Hey Past-Me 👋

I've been playin games my whole life.

• Saturday Showdowns with Pokemon Gym Leaders

• Birthday Party Smash Bros Battle Royales

• After School (+During School) Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duels

• Dance Dance Revolution Arcade Bar-Holding Marathons

• Ragnarok Online Internet Cafe Questing

• Part-time Legendary Space-Wizardry in Destiny

Each one I've obsessed over. Whether it was having fun or getting good, I couldn't get enough.

But the one game I struggled to get the hang of:

The Game of Art.

I've been playing it now for almost 18 years. For fun and eventually for my livelihood.

It was the one game I didn't know how to get good at and had no clue where to start or even what questions to ask. And for whatever reason, I'm still tryin.

And I don’t plan on quittin! (it's that goooood)

So, wanna play?

Here's what's on top of my mind this week:

Treat art like your favorite game

Making art was terrifying for me. (Still is sometimes.)

One way I've learned to conquer that fear is to reframe it as a game.

Games give us an opportunity to practice in a safe, hopefully enjoyable, challenging, but rewarding environment.

Art and creativity was a mystery to me. I couldn't see the connection that art could be the greatest game I could ever play.

These were my key mistakes:

• Neglected Practice: I was able to get things “good enough”, but I didn’t have the command of someone who’d done it a hundred times.

• Didn’t Keep Score: Without a habit of practice, I also didn’t have a habit of tracking my progress. I had no idea how I was doing at any given time

• Overcomplicated the Process: I thought I had to learn everything before I could make the things I wanted to make.

Why’d I do those things?

I just didn’t know what I didn’t know and didn't know where to look. I'd stumble upon answers every now and then, but the path I took was dizzying.

Because of that, I may have had the desire to be an artist, but my mistakes led my portfolio to be poorly crafted, lacking polish and direction.

I didn't see that my portfolio was my main quest, boss battle, or puzzle to solve. Now I do.

So, here’s how I’d play it:

🗺️ Level 1: Define Your End-Game & Side Quests

Set clear and achievable goals for your artistic development.

Having a defined end-game will help keep you motivated and focused on your progress. (Remember that map we were talkin about before?)

Not having a clear idea of what you wanna achieve can lead to confusion and lack of direction.

So, here’s how I’d do it:

1. Define your end-game and what you wanna achieve

   1. I wanna be a Showrunner for Action Animation TV/Film

2. Create side-quests to work towards your larger goal:

   1. Learn about filmmaking

   2. Develop story ideas

   3. Research cinematography

   4. Practice visual development

   5. Make short films

3. Review your goals regularly to stay motivated and on track (at least once a week)

   1. Display them somewhere you can see everyday and review weekly

4. Track your XP and celebrate each level-up along the way

   1. Keep a journal to track your progress and all your wins to look back on

Enjoy the journey, work hard, stop and smell the fireflowers every once in a while.

🧭 Level 2: Create Your Leveling Guide

Break down the skills you need to reach your end-game into smaller, manageable parts.

This will greatly reduce the stress on your leveling journey, but also be wary:

Attempting to master too many skills at once can lead to burnout and demotivation. Focus on one a time. Multi-tasking ain’t the move here. And no warp zones.

Take the long, fun way and follow these steps:

1. Identify the skills needed to reach your end-game

2. Prioritize those skills based on their importance and your current skillset

3. Break each skill down into small side quests

   1. Background Painting

      1. Learn how to draw in perspective

      2. Learn how to compose a shot

      3. Learn how to paint clear values

      4. Learn how to do color studies

      5. Learn how to ...

4. Plot a training and improvement schedule for each skill

   1. Month 1 - Painting Color Scripts

      1. Week 1 - Value Study Film/TV Keyframes

      2. Week 2 - Concept Original Keyframes - Values only

      3. Week 3 - Color Study Film/TV Keyframes

      4. Week 4 - Concept Original Keyframes - Full Color

Follow it, but don't be afraid to change it should your goals change. Just don't do it too often that you fail to get good at anything.

🧮 Level 3: Keep Score

Stay hungry and motivated by tracking your progress and seeing how far you’ve come.

Keeping score allows you to externalize that progress, which can lead to +10 Motivation and +10 Confidence, stats you’ll need to level up quickly.

Not keeping score will make you blind to any progress you might be making and make you feel stagnant.

Instead, here's some ways to pay attention:

• Keep a journal of daily/weekly progress

• Create a chart to visualize growth

• Celebrate milestones and small victories. Keep a log of your wins to keep you motivated.

• Reflect on areas for improvement and growth regularly. (I usually do this on Sundays)

Keeping score doesn't have to suck out the fun, it can fuel it.

🔎 Level 4: Study Your Boss Battles & Experiment

Take time to reflect and learn from each boss battle (ex: Making your first character sheet, painting a wide background pan, writing a short film) you encounter.

Constantly learning from your experiences will lead to faster growth and improvement in your skills.

Failing to reflect on your past boss battles and experiences can lead to repeating the same mistakes and slow progress.

Post Boss Battle Strat:

1. After each boss battle ask: What went well and what could have been done better?

2. Write down the key takeaways and lessons learned from each battle

3. Use these insights to make adjustments and improvements to your strategy and approach in future battles

4. Experiment with new techniques, styles, and approaches to expand your skill set and find your optimum/ultra fun build.

Hindsight is a superpower. Use it.

📚 Level 5: Build Your Collections

Collect anything that inspires you and sparks your imagination. It could be an image, an article, a poster, a video, anything. If its a scroll-stopper that makes you say, "Sh*t I wish I'd thought of that!" then throw it in a bin to examine later.

This provides the on-going benefit of on-demand inspiration whenever you’re running low on creative fuel.

See, the key is not to start from scratch with every creative project.

Build a library of WHOAS (not woes, that's sad).

Steps:

1. Collect artwork/ideas that resonate with you

2. Take notes on what details you find interesting

3. Organize them by projects you’re working on at the time

4. Study how they work and how you could implement the ideas

Just remember, collect in service of creation. Create more than you consume.

🤝 Level 6: Find Your Allies & Power-ups

Join/build a community of like-minded artists. It doesn't have to be a lot, even just one more person who's just as committed as you to growing.

Surrounding yourself with supportive, motivated individuals will keep you accountable and motivated to reach your end-game.

Isolating yourself can lead to decreased motivation and a lack of potentially game-changing feedback.

How to Gain Friends and Get Gassed Up By Them:

1. Identify online or in-person communities related to your area of artistic development

2. Participate in community events, discussions, and challenges

3. Seek feedback from other artists and provide feedback to others

4. Surround yourself with positive and encouraging individuals who will support you in your journey.

As much as your art journey is a single player game, it doesn't have to be. Co-op and multiplayer can get you there faster and often way funner. (Interested in a community? Check the link at the bottom of this email!)

🏆 Level 7: Play to WIN

Embrace challenges and view mistakes as opportunities for growth. Accept that failure is the path to learning and we can patch our blindspots.

Viewing challenges and mistakes as opportunities for growth helps maintain a growth mindset and limits the chance of you giving up when things get tough.

Being too afraid of making mistakes hinders progress, so trust the process, and GO FOR IT!

How to WIN:

1. Seek out challenges to improve your skills

2. Reframe mistakes as opportunities for growth

3. Celebrate your progress and growth, no matter how small

If you can't believe in yourself, believe in the me that believes in you.

🕹️ Training Mode

Take a day to plan out your game and your first leveling guide.

To help you get started, I created a simple Notion template you can use ​here​. Sign up for a free Notion account to use and get started by clicking "Duplicate" in the top right corner to copy it to your workspace.

Reply to this email with a screenshot of your game details or if you have any questions on getting started!

TL;DR

Treat your artistic development like your favorite game.

1. Define your End Game & Side Quests

2. Create your Leveling Guide

3. Keep Score

4. Study Your Boss Battles & Experiment

5. Build your Collections 6. Find Your Allies & Power-ups 7. Play to WIN

Make it THE game you can’t get enough of.

I wanna have fun, but I also wanna win.

And this is one game worth winning.

Remember, we do this not only because it nourishes our souls, but because it's the way we put food on the table.

So, if there’s one game you should obsess over:

Make it this one...

...in the hopes that all those incredible ideas stuck in your head are let out to play some day.

See ya 👋

- Future-You